Silverman: Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones worth a try

Updated 9:47 am, Tuesday, October 4, 2011

If you're looking for a smartphone, chances are you're checking out the latest models with Google's Android and Apple's iOS operating systems.

As well you should. iPhones and Android phones are excellent.

There's also a third option you should consider, one with a very different approach. It isn't very popular at the moment, but if enough people get their hands on it and try it, that could change.

I'm talking about smartphones that use the latest version of Microsoft's mobile OS. Forget what you think you know about Microsoft and smartphones - this is not the clunky, non-intuitive platform formally known as Windows Mobile.

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The new software is called Windows Phone 7.5, code-named Mango. It's not like anything you've ever seen before … that is, unless you tried last year's Windows Phone 7, the initial release of this reworked operating system.

I've been trying Windows Phone 7.5 on a Samsung Focus phone that connects to AT&T's 3G network. Here's how impressed I am with Microsoft's mobile efforts: Depending on what happens with Tuesday's Apple announcement about its next iPhone, I would seriously consider switching to a Windows Phone 7.5 device - and I'm a longtime, happy iPhone user.

Microsoft's mobile software has intrigued me since I reviewed an HTC Surround running the original Windows Phone 7 release a year ago. While that software had some serious deficiencies - including the inability to copycut/paste text and a serious lack of applications - I liked its interface, which eschews the row-of-icons design familiar to Android, iPhone and BlackBerry users.

Instead, the Windows Phone OS first shows a start page filled with tiles, each representing either a program or a cluster of programs known as a hub. The tiles can be dynamic, showing you information about those programs. For example, the photo app can show you the latest pictures in your camera roll, or images from your Facebook and Twitter friends.

When you tap on a tile, the start screen swings away to reveal the app. A single menu item at the top of the start screen takes you to all your apps, presented in an alphabetical list.

Simple, intuitive

At this top level, the software is very simple to use and very intuitive. But as you work with it, you understand that there's lot of power and complexity beneath its surface.

This newest version of the software fixes many of the issues found in the original. You may now copy/cut/paste. It's very fast and very stable - the Samsung Focus is one of the speediest smartphones I've tried.

It also does a great job of integrating different aspects of smartphone use. Apps cooperate with each other, which makes complex tasks involving multiple programs and features much easier.

The best example of this integration is with social media. Windows Phone 7.5 blends Facebook and Twitter content with your contact list. If you tap on a contact, you not only can call, text or email him or her, but you can also see the latest Facebook photos and Twitter updates associated with that person.

This goes a step further when communicating with someone. You can start an exchange in Windows Messenger, switch to text and then finish up in Facebook chat, and Windows Phone 7.5 groups it all together as one conversation.

Of course, newcomers to this approach will find a learning curve. I thought the Facebook and Twitter integration was cacophonous when I first used it, but then I discovered a set of filters that you only see the contact information you want to see. Finding this was not necessarily intuitive, but made all the difference once I did.

Microsoft still has some work to do with Windows Phone. Version 7.5 still doesn't support dual-core phones, though I'm not complaining about the performance of the Focus. It also doesn't work with 4G networks - no LTE or WiMax.

It deserves a 2nd look

Phones sold with the original version of Windows Phone 7 began receiving updates to 7.5 last week. And new models with 7.5 already installed should begin appearing in the next few weeks. I hope Microsoft finds a way to get smartphones running Windows Phone 7 in the hands of potential buyers. So far, its marketing efforts have been lackluster, as numbers from Gartner show it falling to a paltry 1.6 percent share of the smartphone market in the previous quarter.

But with this update, Microsoft deserves a second look. And if you're shopping for a smartphone, you owe it to yourself to take that look.